GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
A night of 'Moonglow,' a Loida Nicolas Lewis podcast, a SOHO Awards Gala and Ramona Diaz's biggest surprise of her life
Isabel Sandoval, the filmmaker who gave us "Lingua Franca" (2019) and the short film Shangri-La (2021), recently screened a fine cut of her latest feature film, "Moonglow," to a select group of filmmakers, film aficionados and friends at the Spectacle Theater in Brooklyn.
Producer Alemberg Ang, who flew in from Manila, was also present. Collaborating on Sandoval's fourth feature, Ang was excited to tell us the news that Sandoval was in New York to screen the rough cut of her new crime thriller which also stars Arjo Atayde ("Trigger," "BuyBust").
Filmed in only 20 days in Manila, Quezon City, Chinatown, and Escolta, the film is set in the '60s and '70s during the Ferdinand Marcos administration. It is about this police investigator who is played by Sandoval herself.
"It is a crime noir with some truth in it. But you know Isabel, she's a very poetic, sensual filmmaker," Ang told us in an earlier interview. Written, directed, and edited by Sandoval, the film indeed has the Sandoval touch.
The film also stars Sylvia Sanchez, Dennis Marasigan, Paolo O'Hara, Carlitos Siguion Reyna, Agot Isidro, Bombi Plata and Rocco Nacino.
Also in attendance during the intimate screening were writer Gil Quito and author-actress-transgender advocate Geena Rocero.
The Loida Nicolas Lewis Podcast
Now on its second season, the podcast has already featured a number of Filipino and Fil-Am talents, creatives, fashion designers, movers and shakers in the community.
The indefatigable and charismatic Lewis, who is the Chair and CEO of TLC Beatrice, LLC, a family investment firm, also published her memoir in March 2023, entitled "Why Should Guys Have All The Fun?" It was a take-off from her late husband, Reginald Lewis' best-selling autobiography, "Why Should White Guys Have All The Fun?" which was posthumously published in 1995.
Interestingly, Lewis asked us about love, marriage and relationships aside from how we started in the industry, our career experiences, and our journey in Hollywood.
SOHO International Film Festival Awards Gala
For the first time, the Gala and Awards show was held at the Circo Restaurant and Night Club in Times Square with no less than award-winning actor Lou Diamond Phillips as a member of the jury. Other guests at the event included Rachel Alejandro, Lorli Villanueva, Bessie Besana, Jessy Daing, Jesse Castro, JV Valino, Rasmin Diaz, Elton Lugay, Victor Palmos, Dr. Alice Sta. Maria Almendral, and Jeffrey Jeturian (who was also a member of the jury).
Sadie Bones, who turned 20 on the night of the premiere of her directorial film debut, "If That Mockingbird Don't Sing," won the Audience Award for Full-Length Feature. She was also one of the actors in her comedy film which featured David Krumholtz and Aitana Doyle.
Among the night's winners included "Max Dagan" (Best US Showcase Feature Film), "Tales of Taipei" (Best World Showcase Feature Film, Taiwan), "Broken Eyes" (Best Showcase Documentary Film), "A Cow in the Sky" (Best Showcase Animated Film), "The Wake" (Best US Showcase Short Film), "The Weight of Home" (Best World Showcase Short Film, Australia), "To Myself, With Love: The Bessie Springfield Story" (Best Showcase Documentary Short), "If That Mockingbird Don't Sing" (Audience Award for Full-Length Feature), "Night Session" (Audience Award for Short Film or Series Pilot), "The Greatest" (Audience Award for Exhibition Films), Patrick Fabian of "The Way We Speak" (Best Acting Performance in a Leading Role – US Feature), Saadet Aksoy of "Exile" (Turkey, Best Acting Performance in a Leading Role – World Feature), Dave Coleman of "The Wake" (Best Acting Performance in a Leading Role – US Short) and Tom Bezhanishvili of "Thirteen/Dreizehn" (Austria, Best Acting Performance in a Leading Role – World Short).
Filipino talents whose entries made it to the festival included Maya Puyat, Philip Miles Orduna, Koa Bayani, Jeremy Rafal, Myra Aquino, Yasmine Gomez, Timothy Guion Smith and Tyler Vincent. Sibyl Reymundo-Santiago also produced and acted in "Glendale Paradise."
Ramona Diaz (Director, And So It Begins)
Filmmaker Ramona Diaz was out shopping and having lunch with her Tita Sony in Rockwell (in Makati) on September 13 when she found out her fourth documentary, And So It Begins, was chosen by the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) as the country's entry to the 97th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film.
"At first, I ignored the texts and calls because I really wasn't expecting anything. Of course, I shared it with my Tita Sony first and then texted both Leni Robredo and Maria Ressa. Then I texted my daughter in New York and my crew in Manila," revealed Diaz in an email interview.
The documentary, which is a companion piece to Diaz's film "A Thousand Cuts," follows the 2022 campaign of former Vice President Leni Robredo for her run for office for president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa in her continuous fight for press freedom.
The 113-minute documentary, which was also an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival this year, makes history as the first documentary to be chosen to represent the Philippines at the Oscars.
"Of course, I am super humbled to be representing the country, but I am also overwhelmed because now we have to get the film out there!" said Diaz.
So, what gems of wisdom can she share about this nomination of her film for the Oscars, we asked.
"I'm still trying to process what just happened. For me the work is the most important thing. As long as we keep on making films for films' sake, good things happen. Sometimes," she said.
—MGP, GMA integrated News
